Stem cell cloning

Organic diseases due to degeneration of cells viz., diabetes mellitus, Parkinsonism, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis etc., have offered resistance to any line of treatment, and treatments have been palliative so far. All of these diseases limit the patient’s physical or mental abilities, some even making the individual a social invalid. Still, there is a silver lining for the subjects of these diseases in the form of stem-cell research and gene therapy that are still in the pipeline. The gene therapy would be a novel method to counter human maladies of this nature, whereby the defective genes that predispose any person to any of these diseases would be effectively treated. It won’t be long before a diabetes patient bids adieu to the painful shots of insulin or the likes of Mohammad Ali Clay (the legendary boxer), a Parkinsonism patient, to Levodopa. The sooner this happens, the better for the afflicted ones.




Now that the mammoth is extinct, the elephant is the largest animal on land. But going by the recent breakthroughs in cloning this may not remain the case in future. Recent moves in cloning the Tasmanian tiger, long thought to be extinct, is paving way for more cloning and reproduction of the extinct or endangered species. A few years back, a mammoth’s remains were extricated in excellent conditions in Siberia. If the DNA of any such well-preserved mammoth is found to be cloning-worthy, the mammoth might again dwarf the elephant on Earth and come back in a totally different ecosystem this time. Aided by advanced computers, scientists will be able to repair the broken links in the damaged DNA strands of extinct species.




On the other hand, therapeutic cloning holds a lot of promise as a cure for some of the most intractable human maladies. Rita Hayworth, Jonathan Swift,Ronald Reagan, Mark Twain and Ralph Waldo Emerson all died from Alzheimer's disease, but for those living with the dementia, the stem cell research may one day indeed bring in cure. Stem-cells, the precursors of the specialized organ cells, could be cloned to multiply in large numbers and then be allowed to grow into specialized organic cells, thus offering hope to tens of thousands of subjects of Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, organic brain or spinal-cord damage, diabetes mellitus, degenerative myopia or any disease originating out of cellular degeneration. Stem cells could one day be designed to grow into body organs, thus making the horizons bright for the patients with heart or kidney failure. Hair cells could be cloned and could one day emerge as a cure for alopecia. Such immense possibilities exist, but how long will it take to translate them into reality? It is a mammoth question. Politicians must do whatever it takes to ensure the development of such technologies that would be available at humanity’s disposal to mitigate the intractable diseases.